Nearly 150-Year-Old Former West Ward School Gets Heritage Designation
/By Scott Arnold
A building that once served Peterborough’s growing west side in the late 1800s has now been officially recognized as a heritage property.
483 Park St. N. is pictured in 2026, nearly 150 years after the building was constructed as the West Ward School. (photo by scott arnold)
Peterborough City Council has approved the designation of 483 Park St. N. under the Ontario Heritage Act, following a recommendation from the Peterborough Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee.
The property was built around 1878 as the West Ward School, responding to the city’s growing population and the expansion of neighbourhoods to the west.
The former school is considered an excellent example of late nineteenth-century Italianate-style educational architecture and remains part of the residential character of Peterborough’s historic Old West End.
The former West Ward School is pictured in 1878, shortly after the building was constructed in the Italianate style.
